About Osvaldo Borsani

Osvaldo Borsani brought modern Italian design to the world’s attention in the post-war period by promoting luxury furnishings influenced by technological innovation; utilizing new modes of production; and integrating industrial materials such as steel and rubber. In 1953 he founded furniture manufacturer Tecno with his brother, Fulgenzio, and introduced the now-iconic P40 reclining chair soon after. Using the same mechanical joint as the P40, the L77 Daybed (1955) is noted for its high degree of flexibility, allowing it to raise, lower, extend, and adjust into hundreds of positions. At the 10th Milan Triennial Exhibition, Borsani launched Tecno’s first collection by ingeniously dispersing its designs in different contexts throughout the site—including an R. Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome—to demonstrate their versatility, exemplifying Borsani’s holistic approach in which the “designer, maker, art director, and distributor merge harmoniously into one,” as he once said.